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General - Tyler McIntosh, Athletic Communication

Historical Feature: The People Behind the Places

For this week's "Throwback Thursday" historical feature, we take a closer look at the people who have had athletic facilities at Slippery Rock named in their honor.

Each Thursday of the fall semester, we'll be throwing it back and looking at historical and significant moments and individuals from the history of Slippery Rock athletics. For our fifth “Throwback Thursday” feature of the semester, we take a closer look at the people who have had athletic facilities at Slippery Rock named in their honor.


Critchfield, Egli, Morrow and Thompson are just a few of the many names that fans, coaches, athletes and anyone else who visits Slippery Rock University see when they tour campus. But what do we really know about the people whose names grace our fields, courts and stadiums?

For this week’s “Throwback Thursday” feature, we’ll take a brief look at the individuals that Slippery Rock’s athletic facilities are named in honor of. 

Jerry Bejbl

Location Name: Jerry Bejbl Weight Training Center
Year Dedicated: 1997
Association with Slippery Rock: 1963 Slippery Rock graduate. A standout in both football and baseball. 

The Jerry Bejbl Weight Training Center is named in honor of one of Slippery Rock’s biggest donors. 

Ground breaking on the Jerry Bejbl Weight Training Center took place in 1997 after Bejbl made a generous $200,000 donation to the university to help fund the building and equipment in the facility. The weight room, which is located at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, is available for use only by the Slippery Rock University varsity athletes, with supervision from coaches. 

Recently, the facility got another boost in 2020 with the installation of a brand new flooring system, state of the art speaker system and additional equipment thanks in no small part to another $50,000 donation by Bejbl.

“This is a guy who never forgot where he came from, who has always given back to this program,” said current head football coach Shawn Lutz in an interview with the Butler Eagle. “We would not be a national level football program without his support.”

A life-long devotee to Slippery Rock, Jerry Bejbl was also one of its top athletes in both football and baseball during his playing days in the early 1960s. 

In his last three football seasons at The Rock, Bejbl recorded 1,007 yards rushing on 262 carries to go along with 21 touchdowns as a fullback. Bejbl also spent time at kicker and punter, where he averaged 38.1 yards per punt. Bejbl was chosen as the Most Valuable Player in Slippery Rock’s 13-6 state championship win over East Stroudsburg in 1962. He was also an honorable mention All-America selection in that same ’62 season.

Since then, there’s been very few big moments in Slippery Rock football over the last 55 years that Jerry Bejbl hasn’t been present for. Home or away, night games, day games, rain, sun or snow, the odds are Bejbl has been there.

Bejbl, who met his wife Kathleen at Slippery Rock, was originally a teacher following his graduation from Slippery Rock before he started his own business, the Armoloy Corporation, that has been extremely successful to say the least. In total, Bejbl has donated over $1 million to Slippery Rock University. 

“Jerry is one individual who has never forgotten what the university did for him and what Rock football did for him,” former head coach George Mihalik said. “It is a real tribute to Jerry that he felt it was appropriate to endow a scholarship and underwrite a weight center project to help young men gain an education and be successful student-athletes.”

Garry Benford

Location Name: Garry Benford Weight Room
Year Dedicated: 2002
Association with Slippery Rock: A two-time Slippery Rock graduate, Benford earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from SRU in 1977 and his master’s degree in exercise science and sports medicine in 1979. 

It’s only fitting that the weight room at Morrow Field House is named after arguably the greatest powerlifter to ever come from Slippery Rock. Thanks to a generous donation, the Garry Benford Weight Room opened in 2002. 

The weight room, which is only available to varsity athletes with coaches’ supervision, features racks, benches, dumbbells and various other training tools and is located adjacent to the basketball court on the lower level of the field house.

Benford, who received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Slippery Rock has a very extensive background with the university. He earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 1977 and his master’s degree in exercise science in 1979. 

While attending SRU, Benford competed in four Collegiate National Powerlifting championships. Additionally, he founded the first weight lifting club as a student and spent five years as president.

“I wanted athletes to have what they need to become better at their sports,” said Benford in 2002.

The author of "Powerlifting: A Guide for Coaches and Athletes" (1986), Benford served as the meet director for 11 National and two World Powerlifting Championships. In 1989, he was inducted into the Powerlifting Hall of Fame.

Benford holds a litany of lifting accomplishments. He was the National Masters 198 lb. Powerlifting Champion in 1995, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 2000. Benford was also the the National Masters 198 lb. Bench Press Champion in 2001 and 2002. Most recently, Benford set an International Powerlifting Association record with a press of 425 pounds in the 198-pound weight class, for the 60-64 years old division.

In 2009, Benford was inducted into the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2012 he was named "Outstanding Alumni of the Year."

Jack Critchfield

Location Name: Jack Critchfield Park
Year Dedicated: 2002
Association with Slippery Rock: A 1955 Slippery Rock graduate with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. Critchfield was also a pitcher on the baseball team. 

Slippery Rock boasts one of the finest facilities in all of college baseball and its origins can all be traced back to a donation from Slippery Rock alum, and former baseball player, Jack Critchfield. 

Jack Critchfield Park officially opened in 2002 thanks to its namesake’s generosity. 

Slippery Rock baseball went from competing at Wally Rose Park, which covered only the most basic needs for competition, to a complex that features seating for 1,500 fans, a spacious clubhouse area that houses the baseball program’s offices and locker room facilities, a concession stand and below-ground dugouts for both the home and visiting teams. The facility also features lights for night games, a padded outfield fence, a bullpen area along each foul line and a fully-enclosed batting cage along the right-field line for use year-round.

“Jack Critchfield, through his donation, brought Slippery Rock baseball to whole new level,” head coach Jeff Messer said. “The new facility not only helped our university program, but also the community through the many conference and regional college, high school regular season and playoff games, semi-pro, pro and summer collegiate baseball games that have been played here.”

Critchfield came to Slippery Rock from Rockwood, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Slippery Rock in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. During his time at Slippery Rock, Critchfield pitched on the baseball team as well as competing on the soccer team in addition to serving as the treasurer of the Varsity Club, editor of the college yearbook and being a member of the choir. 

After college, Critchfield joined the Army before returning to his hometown to teach. He eventually earned his master’s degree in psychological counseling and a doctorate in education from the University of Pittsburgh. 

He then went on to be named president of Rollins College in 1969 despite being only 36-years old. He remained at Rollins until 1978 when he left to run a telephone company in Winter Park, Florida. 

Critchfield joined Florida Power in 1983 and was quickly promoted to its parent company, Florida Progress, in 1987 to oversee the company’s energy and transportation group before eventually being named president of Florida Progress in 1988. 

During his time as president of Florida Progress, Critchfield made himself a fixture in the Tampa Bay area. He served on 15 different boards, including the Tampa Bay Partnership, Pinellas County Education Foundation, Florida Council of 100 and National Business Roundtable.

Outside of Slippery Rock, Critchfield is probably best known for being one of the primary people that helped bring Major League Baseball to Tampa Bay when helped put an ownership group together that would eventually lead the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. 

For his efforts, Critchfield had the honor of throwing out the first pitch of the Devil Rays’ inaugural spring training game. 

Critchfield retired from Florida Progress in 2006. 

Bob DiSpirito

Location Name: Bob DiSpirito Field
Year Dedicated: 2006
Association with Slippery Rock: Head football coach (1967-80, 1987) and faculty member (1967-98)

The playing field at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium was named in honor of DiSpirito in 2006.

“Coach D” as he was affectionately called, compiled a 79-60-3 record in 15 seasons (1967-80, 1987) as The Rock’s Head Football Coach. DiSpirito coached Rock teams to three consecutive PSAC championships.

A native of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, DiSpirito graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1953 after earning All-America honors and serving as the team captain his senior year. DiSpirito then served in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant from 1954-56 before returning to school to earn a master's degree from Columbia University Teacher's College in 1958.

Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Slippery Rock, DiSpirito spent three years as an assistant coach at Bucknell University and five years as the head coach at the University of Bridgeport. DiSpirito came to Slippery Rock in 1967 as head football coach and a faculty member within the parks and recreation department.  

DiSpirito finished his 15-year head coaching career at The Rock with a 79-60-3 overall record and a .567 winning percentage. He led the team to three straight conference titles from 1972-74 and posted a 60-33-3 overall record from 1971-80, which included a 45-18-3 mark against conference opponents and a 32-9-2 record at home. 

Following an impressive 14-year run leading The Rock football program, DiSpirito stepped away from the program, but remained a faculty member on campus. However, when Slippery Rock football perhaps needed him the most he was there. 

After going 3-7 during the 1986 season, then head coach Don Ault unexpectedly quit the following June. With just two months until the season started, Slippery Rock turned to DiSpirito for help. Former SRU President Robert Aebersold asked DiSpirito to resume his role as head coach, DiSpirito agreed on the condition that it would only be for one season.

“This is not an ego trip,” said DiSpirito before the 1987 season. “Slippery Rock football is important to me and I care about the future of the program. Everything I do is for the success of the program."

True to his word, DiSpirito returned to being a full-time faculty member following the 1987 season with no coaching responsibilities. DiSpirito remained a faculty member until his retirement in 1998. He was instrumental in assisting President Aebersold with the research and planning for SRU's Aebersold Recreation Center, which was built in 1998.

DiSpirito passed away on Dec. 21, 2015 at the age of 87. Following his death, George Mihalik, who played for and coached under DiSpirito and eventually took over the program from him in 1988, was grateful for everything his former coach and mentor taught him.

"There aren't enough words to describe what Coach D meant to the Slippery Rock University football program and to me personally," said Mihalik. "I had the privilege to play for him, learn from him and coach under him. 

"The family culture and trying to win the right way are things that he brought to this program. They are the things that we have continued for nearly three decades since he coached his last game and they are the things this program will always pride itself on. I can't thank him enough for teaching me that. I owe my whole career to Coach D."

James Egli

Location Name: James Egli Field
Year Dedicated: 1989
Association with Slippery Rock: Men’s Soccer Head Coach (1956-86), Swimming Coach (1957-71), Faculty member (1956-87)

The home of the Slippery Rock men’s and women’s soccer teams is named after hall of fame coach James Egli. In addition to being adored at SRU and across all of Pennsylvania, Egli was admonished with admiration nationally. 

Simply put, James Egli is the best men’s soccer coach Slippery Rock has ever had in terms of both success and longevity. The all-time career wins leader in men's soccer and one of the all-time great coaches of any sport in Slippery Rock history, Egli patrolled the sidelines of the pitch at SRU for 31 seasons from 1956-86, posting a 250-143-38 record and a .639 winning percentage.

Prior to settling in Slippery Rock, Elgi was a standout athlete at Muncy Area High School near Williamsport, Pennsylvania where he excelled in football, baseball and basketball. He was a member of the class of 1940 and was inducted into the Muncy Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985. 

Egli went on to earn letters in basketball, football and baseball at East Stroudsburg in 1941-42 and at Muhlenberg in basketball and baseball in 1943. He spent eight years coaching football, basketball, baseball, track and soccer at Neshaminy and Pennsbury High Schools before embarking on his collegiate coaching and teaching career.

Arriving in Slippery Rock in 1956, Egli led SRU to winning records in 22 seasons and was consistently featured in NAIA, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and Eastern College Athletic Conference championship matches.

His greatest successes came in the 1970s, when he led the team to four consecutive PSAC and NAIA title games from 1973-76. SRU claimed the PSAC title in 1974 and went on to post a 17-1-1 record that season, a standard for single-season wins at The Rock that stood for 35 years.

During his 31 seasons at the helm of the program, Egli coached 35 All-Americans.

Egli was an advocate for soccer in the NAIA and that was no more apparent than in 1965 when he became the first person to be inducted into the NAIA Soccer Hall of Fame in the Meritorious Service category. He went on to be named the NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1973.

While his accomplishments as a soccer coach loom large at the university, Egli served a larger purpose on campus as a professor in the physical education department. He began his career as an assistant professor in 1956 and retired in 1987 as an associate professor. Egli also served as the swimming coach for 15 years during that tenure.

Slippery Rock’s home soccer field was officially named in his honor in 1989. Egli died on July 24, 2011 at the age of 88. 

Matt Thompson, a former Slippery Rock student-athlete and men’s soccer head coach in his own right, summed up what Egli meant to Slippery Rock soccer at the time of his death. 

“I met coach Egli for the first time after I got the job and I asked him many questions about the tradition and the alumni base at Slippery Rock,” said Thompson, now head coach at the University of D.C. “He was so proud of every player that he coached and emphasized the importance of the relationships with the players rather than winning or losing.

“…He was a great man and one that former players talked about all the time on their visits back to The Rock. I am proud to have followed him as a coach at SRU and I hope I was able to do him proud as well. I am glad the field is named after him, as his memory will continue to live on at SRU.”

William Lennox

Bill Lennox Head Shot 1979

Location Name: William Lennox Track
Association with Slippery Rock: Student-Athlete (track/soccer - 1959 graduate), track & field and cross country coach (1969-82), faculty (1969-82) athletic director (1983-94)

The track inside Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, which has been home to countless Slippery Rock victories and record-breaking races, is named in honor of former SRU student-athlete, track & field / cross country coach and director of athletics Bill Lennox. 

Lennox, a member of Slippery Rock’s Class of 1959 with a degree in health and physical education, was a busy man as an undergraduate. In addition to participating in track & field and soccer, Lennox’s activities during his time as a student included being homecoming chairman, junior class treasurer and a member of the Y.M.C.A. 

Following graduation from Slippery Rock, Lennox coached at Riverside High School for eight years and Butler High School for two years before returning to The Rock as the school’s track & field / cross country coach and faculty member in 1969.

What Lennox accomplished during his reign at Slippery Rock was nothing short of legendary. He tallied a total of 178 wins, nine conference championships and 13 unbeaten seasons. In addition to that success, Lennox became the first person to do something that no other coach before him at Slippery Rock, regardless of sport, had done – win a team national championship. 

Lennox coached Slippery Rock to the Division III men’s outdoor national championship in 1979. To this day, the 1979 men’s track and field national title is the only NCAA national title won by any team in SRU history.

Lennox, who concluded his Rock career by serving as the director of athletics for 12 years before retiring in 1994, was inducted into the SRU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 after serving the Green and White for more than 30 years as a student-athlete, coach and administrator.

“Bill Lennox’s achievements as a coach speak for themselves in terms of his legacy in that area,” said Bruce Boliver, who served as associate athletic director under Lennox. “As an athletic director, he really cared about every sport and advocated that our student-athletes and coaches support each other.”

In a testament to his keen eye for talent, it’s been 26 years since Lennox’s retirement and three of the head coaching hires he made as director of athletics are still with Slippery Rock: baseball coach Jeff Messer, volleyball coach Laurie Lokash and track & field / cross country coach John Papa.

“Bill was the kind of guy you would want to go to war with,” said John Carpenter, who served as Slippery Rock’s sports information director under Lennox. “He didn’t just tell you what you wanted to hear; he gave you an honest answer. He was a great guy to work for, a quality person, a great coach and an excellent teacher.”

George Mihalik

Location Name: Mihalik-Thompson Stadium
Year Dedicated: 2011
Association with Slippery Rock: Student-Athlete (Football – 1974 Graduate), Football Coach (1988-15), Faculty Member (1988-15)

In what is the perfect pairing of names between two men who dedicated their lives to Slippery Rock, George Mihalik joined N. Kerr Thompson as our stadium’s namesake in 2011 to form Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. It’s a very fitting combination as Thompson laid the groundwork for the football program and in turn Mihalik built it up to what it is today.

If there’s such a thing as a “Slippery Rock man,” Mihalik is the embodiment of it. He came to Slippery Rock in 1970 and was a three-year starter as a quarterback on The Rock football team, leading the squad to back-to-back conference championships in 1972 and 1973 prior to his graduation in 1974. 

Mihalik became a graduate assistant with the program, then an assistant coach and eventually was named head coach in 1988. He served as the head coach for 28 seasons, compiling 197 wins, winning eight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Championships and reaching the NCAA Division II playoffs six times.

He finished his 28th season as The Rock's head coach with a sterling 197-111-4 career record and a .638 career winning percentage, the most wins ever recorded by a Rock football coach. At the time of his retirement in 2015, Mihalik ranked fourth among PSAC head coaches, and 27th in NCAA Division II history, in career wins.

A six-time PSAC West Coach of the Year honoree, Mihalik has been inducted into five different halls of fame: SRU Athletic (1997), Butler Area Sports (2001), Cambria County Sports (2006), Pennsylvania Sports Western Chapter (2012) and Bishop Carroll High School (2012).

The high-water mark of Mihalik's tenure came in 1998, when The Rock advanced to the national semifinals. The following season, Mihalik led SRU to a No. 2 ranking in the final regular-season national poll, the highest ranking in program history.

Equally, if not more impressive, is the fact Mihalik was one of the few coaches in the nation that had a doctorate degree and, much like Thompson, managed all of his coaching successes while also serving as a full professor in the SRU department of safety management long after the time when all coaches were also teachers. He continued teaching and advising students all the way through his retirement in 2015.

"George Mihalik's true measure of excellence is the positive difference he has made in the lives of thousands of students and student-athletes as a distinguished professor in safety management and SRU's head football coach," said Slippery Rock then president Cheryl Norton upon Mihalik’s retirement in 2015.

"He is a man of great integrity who has always placed the needs of students and the University above his own. Parents of recruits knew they could believe him when he looked them in the eye and told them he would look after their sons and help them succeed in the classroom and on the field. He's built a program at SRU that is envied by many – a program that values ethics, hard work and good sportsmanship – a program that will survive him long after he leaves the University.”

James Morrow

Location Name: Morrow Field House
Year Dedicated: 1962
Association with Slippery Rock: First Slippery Rock President (1889-90)

Morrow Field House, the site of all home volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball contests and university commencements, among its many other uses, is named in honor of Slippery Rock’s first president, James Morrow.

Morrow was born in Fairview, West Virginia on March 28, 1837. He received his first academic degree from Jefferson College in 1856 and promptly began teaching at just the age of 19 while working towards his law degree, which he earned in 1859, before enlisting in the Civil War in 1863.

Following the war, Morrow made a career of education instead of practicing law. In 1871 he was hired as the first assistant at Marshall College prior to becoming its principal in 1872. After leaving Marshall, he was hired at West Liberty Normal School only to leave West Liberty in 1875 to accept a position at Oakdale Academy near Pittsburgh, where he remained until accepting a teaching position at nearby Central High School in 1878.

Prior to being appointed as the Slippery Rock Normal School’s first principle in 1889, as well as a professor of psychology and history, Morrow served as the principle at the Conroy School in Pittsburgh in 1888.  

Morrow’s tenure at Slippery Rock proved to be short as he abruptly resigned in July of 1890. After leaving Slippery Rock, Morrow returned to Central High School as the school’s principal, where he remained until his death on Dec. 12, 1904.

Slippery Rock returned to the national spotlight briefly in 1932 due to a connection to Morrow. His granddaughter, Anne, was married to the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh. The couple's son was kidnapped in 1932 and the story and subsequent trial made headlines in the Slippery Rock area due to Morrow's connection.

The decision was made in 1962 to give the field house, which opened in 1959, the official name Morrow Field House. 

N. Kerr Thompson

Location Name: Mihalik-Thompson Stadium
Year Dedicated: 1974
Association with Slippery Rock: Slippery Rock graduate (1908), Faculty member/Board of Trustees (1913-62), Football coach (1920-45), Men’s Basketball coach (1921-47), Baseball coach (1920-55)

Nelson Kerr Thompson is the only person in Slippery Rock athletics history to have two fields named in his honor. 

In 1939, Slippery Rock’s original home field was bestowed with his name as Thompson Field served as the home for SRU football for 35 years until the new stadium was constructed and opened in 1974. There was never a question as to what the new complex should be called; that honor once again went to the father of Slippery Rock athletics and thus N. Kerr Thompson Stadium was born. 

His name stood alone until 2011 when fellow legendary football coach George Mihalik’s name was added alongside Thompson’s to make Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, which hosts all home football, lacrosse, field hockey and track & field competitions, as well as occasional soccer matches. 

Born in Butler County, Pennsylvania on Nov. 18, 1888, Thompson attended high school in Brady Township, Pennsylvania before graduating from Slippery Rock in 1908 and Ursinus College in 1912. Following his graduation from Ursinus, Thompson began his career as a teacher of mathematics and athletics at the Massanutten Academy in Woodstock, Virginia for four years before returning to Ursinus to coach football and teach in 1916. 

Following a year’s service in World War I, Thompson returned home to Slippery Rock in 1920 and promptly began work on a legacy that is remembered to this day. 

To say Thompson did it all at Slippery Rock would almost be an understatement. Over his 42 years of service to the school, Thompson did everything from teach, to coaching multiple teams, to serving on the board of trustees. 

Thompson was the first coach to truly establish the Slippery Rock football team as one of the premiere programs in Pennsylvania, as we know it to be today. He led Slippery Rock for 24 years (1920-45) and amassed a stellar record of 126-58-11 (.674). It has been 75 years since Thompson coached his last football game and he is still the second winningest coach in program history. Among his accomplishments on the gridiron was leading undefeated teams in 1924, 1933, 1939 and 1945.

Even more impressive than his football resume was his basketball coaching prowess. Thompson compiled an impressive 221-109 (.669) record in his 24 years in charge of the men’s basketball program (1921-47). He is still Slippery Rock’s career leader in coaching victories. 

More important than all of the victories for Thompson, who also coached baseball from 1920-55 and led the charge to bring varsity sports back to Slippery Rock during World War II, was the admiration that was shown for him by both the athletes he coached and the students he taught. Numerous editions of Slippery Rock’s annual yearbook, The Saxigena, were dedicated to him by the students and this quote was said of Thompson upon his retirement:

“To say, however, that we are dedicating our Saxigena to him merely because he was a great coach, would be a gross understatement. Coach N. Kerr Thompson has become more than that. He has become almost a symbol of the spirit of Slippery Rock. We find in him all the traits for which we as a school strive.” 

Thompson served on the Slippery Rock Board of Trustees for many years following his retirement. He died in Grove City on Sept. 20, 1968 at the age of 79.

Patricia Zimmerman

Zimmerman_2

Location Name: The Patricia Zimmerman Field Hockey Field
Association with Slippery Rock: Professor (1961-93), Field Hockey Coach (1964-83)

The Patricia Zimmerman Field Hockey Field, as the name indicates, once served as the home field for Rock field hockey competitions, which are now played on the artificial turf at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. However, teams still do practice on the field. 

Following a heralded career at East Stroudsburg University, where she was a standout member of the field hockey, basketball and tennis teams, Patricia Zimmerman was a member of the U.S. National Field Hockey team for five years and the reserve team for three years all the while obtaining a master’s degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. 

Prior to accepting a position in the Slippery Rock physical education department in 1961, Zimmerman coached basketball and field hockey in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania.

At Slippery Rock, Zimmerman led the field hockey program for 20 seasons before spending her final decade at Slippery Rock focusing squarely on being a faculty member. Zimmerman holds the impeccable distinction of recording 18 consecutive winning seasons.

In guiding Slippery Rock field hockey into varsity competition, the inaugural season culminated in an eighth-place finish at the 16-team Eastern Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships. During her time at Slippery Rock, Zimmerman coached three student-athletes who would play on the U.S. National Team.

Zimmerman’s experience playing on the U.S. National Team helped her provide Slippery Rock with a unique perspective that focused more on competition and less on recreation, a stark contrast to the general outlook on women’s athletics at the time.

“Having been on the U.S. team, I had a different outlook as to how sports should be played,” Zimmerman told ROCK Magazine in 2009.

Like so many others, Zimmerman served on the front lines of the early fight for equality following the initial passage of Title IX. She served as the director of SRU’s initiative for equal opportunity, which investigated how the school stood in regard to Title IX at the time.

“The fellows were so used to getting what they needed for their teams that it was difficult for them to share facilities and equipment in the beginning,” Zimmerman said. “It was my job to remind them that just meeting the requirements wasn’t enough. It also meant providing women’s athletics with quality staff, transportation and facilities.”

Her contributions to women's athletics are still felt everyday at Slippery Rock. 

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Gary Benford Weight Room
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